The only Var we have of Dulla comes from far away Sikh dominated East Punjab in Doabi dialect which is slightly different from the Lehndi dialect of Bar.

‘Dulle di Var’ was collected by one of prominent authors and researchers Ahmed Saleem from Ghulam Muhammad Rulia of Taran Taran district [East Punjab] who settled in Lyallpur [present-day Faisalabad] after the Partition. The retrieved version was published by Folklore Research Centre, the National Council of the Arts, Islamabad, in1973. The question is if the revolt was historically as significant as cultural activists and writers make us believe it was, why literary expression of the conflict is not found in the area where it took place? The matter either way needs to be probed by historians, researchers and folklorists. Secondly, did the text we have come into existence due to Sikhs’ conflict with the Mughal?

It’s reasonable to presume that Sikhs not without a justification picked all the characters as protagonists or heroes who stood up to Mughal tyranny? There is no doubt that Dulla was a hero who took on the Mughal forces to liberate the peasantry from the burden of excessive taxes imposed by the Akbar’s administration. But he was in no way a Marxist revolutionary hero he has been made into by some writers and scholars. The fallout of such a one-sided intellectual endeavour has been no less than a distortion in our view of history of an important era that has relevance even today. An outright rejection of Akbar as a despot has consequences; the loss of the larger picture of socio-political evolution.

Akbar was perhaps the first emperor in the long history of India [Emperor Ashoka is mentioned as one who much before the Akbar’s reign had a tolerant policy towards religious diversity] who as matter of well-thought out policy successfully tried to separate faith from the state and opened high offices to all citizens regardless of their religious affiliations. He made citizenship the criterion, not faith. Akbar heralded the notion of secular state in a faith-ridden country, a feat which is difficult to emulate even today. As a corollary of his secular policy, Akbar not only accepted diversity and cultural and religious pluralism but also celebrated them as defining features of sub-continental society. Subsequently he achieved a high level of political, social, cultural and religious harmony in Indian polity never seen before.

Let’s not forget that this development took place in India at a time when Europe including England had a vague idea of separation of church from state. So by totally rejecting the Akbar’s legacy as an emperor and statesman we risk abandoning what is the best in political thought and culture in our history.

Interestingly Punjab’s classical literary practices and folk traditions weren’t bereft of the realisation of what this historical development signified.

First, a brief look at the classics. Damodar Das Gulati who was the first to compose the legend of Heer in Punjabi repeatedly mentions Akbar in his composition. “…The master of land and rivers, he stakes his claim to parity with Akbar…” says Damodar describing Heer’s father. “I will only call out my father and uncles if an Akbar born is the invader”, is how Heer articulates her response when she is asked to call for help against the raiders who want to take away the sailor under her protection. “Why should I have sent someone to tell you, was it Akbar who marched against me”?, retorts Heer when her brothers ask about her encounter with the raiding party.

Highly gifted poet Hafiz Barkhurdar in his tale “Qissa Sahiban” mentions Akbar twice at important points of his narrative. When Sahiban, the heroine, looking at the deceptively lean horse of Mirza castigates him at the moment of elopement, he quips;“Akbar, the king, has gifted me the horse with trappings including the saddle and the bit”. When the lovers on their horse fade away and news is relayed to Sabihan’s father Khewa Khan, he shows a great restraint in suppressing his fury and is described thus: “There is no king as great as Akbar and there is no man as full of poise as Khewa”.

Waris Shah in a veiled reference to emerging ‘Sikh Misls’ says: “the peasants have become more powerful than Emperor Akbar…”. In the oral traditions we come across stories narrated by inimitable Mian Kamal Din and others in the book titled “Raj Kahani” which glorifies the galaxy of wise and knowledgeable persons Akbar had gathered at his grand court.

If we leave “Dulle di Var” aside for a moment, what we encounter is a different perception or image of Emperor Akbar which is compatible with historical reality. In our mainstream literary and folk traditions Akbar stands as an epitome of ultimate power, tolerance, sagaciousness and glory. This in no way implies that injustices and atrocities committed during his reign can be wished away or condoned. No doubt he was a mighty emperor and acted like one. What we need is nothing more than an objective appraisal of his era and rule especially his vision of secular state and his acceptance of diversity and plurality. His political and cultural legacies are still highly relevant for our contemporary state and society where questions of secularism, cultural pluralism and religious diversity are still hotly contested issues which evoke contradictory emotional and intellectual responses. Those who insist on rejecting all that the eras of kings and monarchs have to offer suffer from an intellectual fallacy. Rejection of such a past in totality is rejection of continuity without which contemporary society can neither be imagined nor sustained.

Such a selective intellectual approach reflects the lack of historical consciousness as substituting a part for the whole may be politically expedient at a certain point in time but eventually it results in the loss of objective reality and holistic picture. To sum up, we must proudly own Dulla and rebellious peasants’ movement he led to end the tyranny but at the same time we should be careful not to condemn the Akbar’s rule as the usual rottenness of monarchical past. Ignoring historical realities or distorting history for the sake of a cause, however noble it may be,will result in a worldview that at best is blinkered and at worst dangerous. The best course would be to own the both; Dulla’s rejection of oppression and Akbar’s acceptance of secularism and plurality. The vision thus formed may prove a key to a future, humane and humanised. — soofi01@hotmail.com [Concluded]

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2019